Pictures: EMD workers clean up Caterpillar picket line in London
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DEBORAH BAIC

The Globe and Mail

Published
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 7:28PM EST

Last updated
Tuesday, Jan. 08, 2013 7:04PM EST

On Feb. 3, 2012, Caterpillar's Progress Rail Services unit announced it would cease operations at its Electro-Motive Diesel locomotive assembly plant in London, Ont. On Thursday, the laid-off employees voted to approve their severance package and started cleaning up the picket line they had walked for almost two months

Electro-Motive Canada 29-year employee Ross Seeley, centre, shakes hands with another employee following a vote by the employees agreeing to take a severance package negotiated by the Canadian Auto Workers Union and the company in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Electro-Motive Canada employees, including welder Kelly Gordon, line up to vote on the CAW EMD severance package in London, Feb. 23, 2012. The membership voted to accept the package.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Electro-Motive Canada employees machinist Doug Beemer, right, and senior welder Ian Jenkinson, who has worked there for 23 years, look over the severance package to be voted on by the CAW EMD membership in London, Feb. 23, 2012. They both voted yes to the deal.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Electro-Motive Canada employee Ross Seeley, 53, looks over the package he will get following a vote by the employees agreeing to take a severance package negotiated by the CAW and the company in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Electro-Motive Canada employees line up to enter the meeting room at the Marconi club in London to meet and vote on the severance package for the EMD employees, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Canadian Auto Workers Union president Ken Lewenza spoke to the media after Electro-Motive Canada employees voted, agreeing to take a severance package negotiated by the CAW and the company in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Canadian Auto Workers Union President Ken Lewenza shows the media an e-mail from Progress Rail on the closing of Electro-Motive Canada that was sent a year ago, following a vote by the employees agreeing to take a severance package negotiated by the CAW and the company in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

CAW organizer with Local 27, Brian Chapman, cuts down signs off the fences as the Electro-Motive Canada picket line is slowly cleaned up in London on Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

The mostly empty picket line at Electro-Motive Canada, following a vote by the employees agreeing to take a severance package negotiated by the CAW and the company in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Former Electro-Motive Canada employee Brian Tomkins looks at the roof of The Cottage before beginning to dismantle the small building that sat on the EMD picket line in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Former Electro-Motive Canada employees Mike Scofield and Brian Tomkins clean up and begin the dismantling of The Cottage, the small building that sat on the EMD picket line in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

Former Electro-Motive Canada employees Brian Tomkins and Bob Pharand dismantle of The Cottage, the small building that sat on the EMD picket line in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

A pair of gloves and a coffee cup are left on the table on the mostly empty picket line at Electro-Motive Canada, following a vote by the employees agreeing to take a severance package negotiated by the CAW and the company in London, Feb. 23, 2012.(Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail/Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail)

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